Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 31.djvu/101

 

KIDD, WILLIAM (1790?–1863), painter, born about 1790 in Edinburgh, was first apprenticed to a house-painter, but on the completion of his term made his way to London to study painting. He was an enthusiastic admirer of the works of Alexander Carse [q. v.] and of Sir David Wilkie, and determined to paint domestic scenes from Scottish life in their manner. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1817, and at the British Institution in 1818, and was from that time a frequent contributor to both exhibitions, and also to the Society of British Artists in Suffolk Street. Kidd was very successful in depicting the pathos and humour of rustic life, and his pictures have maintained their popularity. Many were engraved, such as ‘The Poacher Detected,’ by T. Lupton, the same picture as ‘Le Braconier Pris,’ and another, ‘Le Baiser Surpris,’ in aquatint by P. Jazet at Paris; ‘Indulging,’ by J. H. Watt; ‘The Poacher's Snare,’ by J. Stewart, &c. In 1849 Kidd was elected an honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy. Never able to manage his own affairs, Kidd fell at the end of his life into hopeless financial embarrassment, and was supported finally by his friends and a pension from the Royal Academy. He died in London on Christmas eve, 1863. A picture by him, ‘Contemplating the Times,’ was lent to the Century of British Art Exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1888–9 (No. 29). 

KIDD, WILLIAM (1803–1867), naturalist, born in 1803, was apprenticed early in life to Baldwin, Craddock, & Joy, a firm of London booksellers. He afterwards entered business on his own account, and had shops successively in Chandos and Regent Streets. While at Chandos Street he published a ‘Guide to Gravesend,’ ‘Popular Little Secrets,’ and other short essays written by himself. Between May and October 1835 he published twenty-four numbers of a weekly ‘London Journal’ dealing with natural history; from 1852 to 1854 he brought out a similar monthly periodical called ‘Kidd's Own Journal,’ which was subsequently reissued in five volumes, royal 8vo, and during 1863–4 he issued ten numbers of ‘Essays and Sketches’ on miscellaneous subjects. By that date he had sold his business, and devoted himself entirely to his favourite studies. He was always an earnest student of nature, and he possessed an astonishing gift of endearing himself to animals. In the later years of his life he resided in the New Road, Hammersmith, and set up a fine aviary, which was burnt down and never rebuilt. Kidd was an independent and eccentric thinker and talker on religious and social subjects, and delivered many lectures in various parts of the country on such subjects as ‘Genial Gossip,’ ‘Fashion and its Victims,’ ‘The Value of Little Things,’ and ‘Happiness made comparatively easy’ (Liverpool Mercury, 8 March 1856). He died at Hammersmith, 7 Jan. 1867. He was married and his wife survived him.

As a naturalist Kidd's chief works were: ‘The Canary,’ London, 1854; ‘The Aviary and its Occupants,’ two parts, 1856, and a number of small books on the goldfinch, the linnet, and other British songsters, which are still valuable. He also wrote an introduction to Westcott's ‘Autobiography of a Gossamer Spider,’ 1857, and, in conjunction with F. Buckland, several papers in ‘Birds and Bird Life,’ 1863, besides contributing papers on birds and kindred subjects to the ‘Gardeners' Chronicle’ and similar periodicals. A long series of tracts and essays which he published on very miscellaneous subjects are either weakly imitative of Leigh Hunt, or characterised only by ignorance and superficiality. The chief of these pam-